Indonesian airline Garuda in talks to delay delivery of 20 planes

Indonesia’s national airline Garuda Indonesia is in talks with Airbus and Boeing to delay the delivery of 20 planes, the flag carrier said, as it seeks to better utilise its current fleet and trim costs. Garuda and its budget unit Citilink were supposed to have taken delivery of the aircraft during the two years through to 2019, CE Pahala Mansury said Friday, without giving a new date for the delivery. “We want to focus on the optimisation of our existing fleet,” Mansury said. Garuda reported a wider net loss for the first half of 2017, hurt partly by the costs of participating in the government’s tax amnesty scheme. Following the loss, the state-controlled carrier also sought consent to amend certain terms on its $500m global sukuk bonds due 2020. Mansury did not disclose the model of the delayed planes, but Garuda spokesman Ikhsan Rosan told Reuters they are made by Airbus and Boeing, including A320s ordered by Citilink.<br/>